


just looking for something (something like home)

by lost_n_stereo



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Fluffy, Soooo much fluff, bughead - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 17:07:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10223081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lost_n_stereo/pseuds/lost_n_stereo
Summary: He moves in with the Andrews men early on a Saturday morning.Not that he could really call it moving in considering his entire life fits into a backpack but at least he’s got a room to call his own.The basement, to be exact.Fred sets up a cot in the corner, near boxes of Christmas decorations (he’s pretty sure those haven’t been touched since Archie’s mom left) and old rusty tools and lawn equipment. He sets his backpack on a rickety tool bench but doesn’t move to unpack.Jughead moves in with Fred & Archie. Bughead fluff.





	

He moves in with the Andrews men early on a Saturday morning.

Not that he could really call it _moving in_ considering his entire life fits into a backpack but at least he’s got a room to call his own.

The basement, to be exact.

Fred sets up a cot in the corner, near boxes of Christmas decorations (he’s pretty sure those haven’t been touched since Archie’s mom left) and old rusty tools and lawn equipment. He sets his backpack on a rickety tool bench but doesn’t move to unpack.

“Sorry it’s so cold down here,” Fred is saying as he throws a fitted flannel sheet over the cot’s mattress. “We’ll get you a space heater or something before winter comes.”

“Alright,” Jughead says although he’s not really paying attention. It’s not that he’s not grateful for Fred’s generosity, he is but he can’t help but think about his dad at home alone. Probably drunk, even though he promised to get his act together.

_Just a month, maybe two._

Not a chance in hell.

Jughead is glad Archie is at football practice because there’s a question on the tip of his tongue that he’s a little embarrassed to ask.

“Just curious,” he starts but his voice shakes a little and his hands are sweating. He runs them down the front of his pants and clears his throat. “Is there a uh… um…a girl policy?”

Judging from Fred’s expression he’s just as surprised Jughead asked as he is.

“A girl policy,” Fred repeats. “Well, Archie has girls over but they usually keep the door open. And no sleepovers.”

Jughead laughs and holds up his hands. “Yeah, of course. That’s not really what I was talking about. More just…in general.”

Fred gives him a knowing smile and it makes him want to melt into the hard concrete floor under his feet.

“Betty is more than welcome in this house whenever she wants. She always has been and that won’t change just because you’re dating.”

Dating.

What a foreign concept. It’s something he’s still getting used to, if he’s being honest. He’s never had a real girlfriend before and he’s not even sure he knows how to be a boyfriend.

Then again, Betty kissed him after he walked her home so he’s hoping that means he’s doing alright so far.

“Great,” he says a little too enthusiastically and he blushes a little when Fred grins. “Thanks, I mean. Betty is…”

“A great girl,” Fred finishes and Jughead nods. “You’re a lucky guy, Jug.”

He just laughs and shakes his head because that is a statement that is so unfairly untrue that if he didn’t laugh about it he’d probably cry.

***

A tapping noise wakes him up and he’s immediately uneasy.

The room is pitch black and unfamiliar. He takes a breath to calm his racing heart once he realizes that he’s just in the Andrews’ basement.

You’d think after a week he’d be used to it but that’s what happens when you’re basically homeless.

You try not to get used to any place because the fear of losing it is too great.

The tapping happens again and his phone lights up with a text at almost the same exact time. Betty’s smiling face is looking up at him from the screen and he sees that it’s almost three in the morning.

_Open your window._

He chuckles and gets up, his pajama pants riding low on his hips as he steps over to the low window that faces the Andrews’ front yard.

Betty is kneeling next to it, using her phone as a flashlight, and Jughead wants to laugh and scold her at the same time.

So that’s exactly what he does.

“Elizabeth Cooper, you little minx,” he says with a faux stern voice when he opens the window. “Why are you outside in the middle of the night? You know it’s not safe.”

Betty rolls her eyes and moves so her face is half in the window. She’s close enough to kiss so he does, just a little peck because he finds it impossible to not kiss her whenever they are together.

“That’s why I’m outside,” she says with a smile when he pulls away and he wants to tell her to go back home where it’s safe but also he missed her today. She was busy with cheerleading practice and they only saw each other for brief moments at school.

Jughead turns around to check the stairs, knowing that Fred and Archie are both upstairs asleep but he’s only been here a few days and the last thing he wants to do is piss anyone off.

“I’d invite you inside but I don’t think Mr. Andrews would think too highly of me if I snuck the girl next door into his basement.”

His voice is teasing but he knows that she can read behind the lines of what he’s saying.

_This home is temporary and I can’t screw it up._

Betty nods and leans inside again. “I couldn’t sleep,” she admits. “I thought maybe seeing you would…”

He cocks his head and smiles. “Would what?”

“Calm me.”

His heart does something funny in his chest and he feels warm all over despite the fact that he’s not wearing a shirt or his beanie, and there’s a cool wind coming through the open window.

“I calm you?” The idea that he could calm someone else is a little unnerving considering the fact that he hardly ever feels calm about anything. Ever.

She smiles sweetly at him and nods. “You do, yeah. And I think after one more kiss I might just be able to fall asleep.”

“Well in that case.” He grins and tugs her down so her face is level with his and he kisses her softly. “Who am I to deny you a good night’s rest?”

He steals one more kiss because he can and she sighs happily before pulling herself out of the window.

“Goodnight, Juggie.”

He watches her walk across the lawn and sneak back into her house, making sure she’s safely inside before closing the window.

The taste of her candy lip gloss is still on his lips when he lays back down.

“Night, Betty.”

***

Jellybean calls him one night when he’s writing an article for the B&G, some puff piece that Betty asked him to write and if it wasn’t for the stack of burgers she promised he probably would have said no, girlfriend or not.

“Hello, brother.”

He laughs at JB’s formal greeting. “Hello, sister. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”

“I need advice,” she sighs and he rolls his eyes because she’s 10. What kind of advice does a 10 year old need.

“Hit me,” he tells her, turning off his laptop so he can give her his full attention.

There are only three women in the world he cares about and she’s at the very top of the list. If there’s a way he can help her with something, she’s his number one priority.

“Well there’s this boy…”

He groans. “Jellybean.”

“Hey! I said to call me JB, remember? I’m not a baby anymore, Jug.”

“I know,” he laughs. “But I’m really not the person to be asking when it comes to boys. Why don’t you just ask mom?”

JB sighs and his heart constricts, knowing the reason before she even says it. “She’s always busy, Juggie. With work and now classes. She’s hardly ever home.”

Jughead grips his phone in his hand, his anger building as he thinks about his baby sister home alone.

“And you? What do you do when she’s not there?”

He can practically hear her shrug. “I dunno, play video games. Play fetch with Hot Dog. Normal stuff.”

“Alone? Or does someone come watch you.”

When she hesitates he’s afraid he’s going to break his phone from gripping it so hard. “Not always. Sometimes Mrs. Adams stays with me after school or on the weekends.”

“Damn it,” he says without meaning to and he ignores JB’s gasp at his use of a swear word. The girl can listen to old school classic rock all day long but the second you say _damn_ or _shit_ she’s losing her mind. “I can’t help you with the boy stuff, JB, but I think I know someone who can.”

He tells her he’ll call her back and without putting his phone down he types in the only number he knows by heart.

“Juggie.”

Betty’s sweet voice drifts through the phone and into his ear.

“Hey, I need a favor.”

She laughs. “I’m all ears.”

He explains JB’s situation, boy trouble that she can’t talk to their mom about, and Betty immediately asks for her phone number.

“Thank you,” he says, his voice cracking a little because damn this girl and her ability to fix problems he didn’t even know he had.

“Of course, Jug. I’ll call her right now.”

A little over an hour later his phone lights up with a text from his sister.

_Thank u!!! Betty is the best. I love her soooo much!_

He chuckles as he thumbs in a response but really there’s only one thing on repeat in his mind.

_Me too, kid. Me too._

***

The investigation goes cold for a couple weeks.

Betty spends a lot of her time at Veronica’s with Polly and although Jughead is welcome there he tends to stay away because there’s only so much baby talk he can take before he wants to take a rattle and shove it through his ear.

Archie asks him on a Wednesday if he wants to go camping over the weekend.

“It’s November,” Jughead deadpans. “Isn’t it too cold for camping?”

Archie just shrugs. “Aren’t you sick of just sitting around all the time? Let’s go do something fun for once.”

He agrees because apparently he’s _agreeable_ now and when he tells Betty at lunch that he’ll be gone all weekend she actually beams.

“Wow,” he snickers. “Don’t be so sad about me leaving, Betts.”

Betty rolls his eyes and kisses his cheek. He tries to pretend he doesn’t see Archie look away but it’s hard when his best friend is so blatantly obvious about it.

“I’m not happy that you’re leaving for the weekend. I’m happy that you’re doing something for yourself. You never get to have fun, Juggie. This will be good for you.” She looks over at Archie and then back at him. “Good for both of you.”

He knows what she’s saying without her actually having to say it. Things have been tense for the past few weeks and that’s putting it mildly. While Archie isn’t openly against them dating he’s not exactly for it either. So far it hasn’t started any fights but Jughead can feel it brewing, like a living thing under the surface, ready to pop up and rear its ugly head to tear everything apart.

Or maybe he’s just being dramatic. It’s a very good possibility.

“You’re right,” he says and she nods as if to say _Duh_ and it makes him chuckle. He stands up and drops a kiss on her nose.

“Who wants more tacos?”

***

Three days later he’s freezing his ass off in the middle of the woods with nothing but a cheap sleeping bag and a fire to keep him warm.

“Whose idea was this again?” Archie’s teeth are chattering as he wraps a wool blanket around him in front of the fire.

“Yours, dumbass.” Jughead ducks when Archie throws a marshmallow at his head. “And here I thought your basement was cold.”

Archie frowns as he roasts a hot dog over the open fire. “Yeah, sorry about that. My dad’s supposed to…”

“Get me a heater, I know.”

Archie nods and Jughead hates the weird tension between the two of them.

“Hey Arch? Are we, you know, okay?”

He feels like an idiot for asking as soon as the words are out of his mouth but honestly it needed to be asked. And he really does hope that they are.

“What? Yeah, of course.” Archie turns the hot dog over when one side blackens. “I mean, I was a little freaked out at first when you and Betty started…”

“Yeah, I know.” He thinks back to the dream he had weeks ago, his best friend walking into a kitchen with a knife in his back, and it makes him shudder. “I just don’t want you to think that I’m choosing her over you or that she’s choosing me over you because you know that’s not the case, right?”

His friend is quiet, just staring at that damn blackened hot dog, and Jughead is about to snap his fingers in front of Archie’s face to get his attention when he looks up and smiles.

“Obviously, yes I know. We’re all good, Jug.”

Archie smiles again, good-natured as always, but it doesn’t reach his eyes and Jughead is too much of a coward to ask him why.

***

“So there’s a dance coming up.”

Betty is lying on her bed doing homework and she looks over at him with a small smile playing across her pink lips. “So I’ve heard.”

He clears his throat, still nervous even though they have been together for a good amount of time now. Something about her makes him feel off kilter even though the very essence of her completely centers him.

It’s bizarre and something that he’s not sure he’ll ever understand but he doesn’t hate it at all.

“Well, I was wondering if you wanted to go and if you do, you know. Would you want to go with me?”

His words are rushed and unsure. Maybe it’s a given that couples do these things together without having to ask but he’s never been one half of a couple, hell he’d never even used the word couple until a few months ago and he honestly has no idea how any of this couple stuff works.

“I figured we’d go together,” Betty says, getting up off the bed and leaning one hip against her desk, where he was trying and failing to do calculus because all he could think about was asking her to this damn dance.

“Yeah?”

She laughs quietly and nods. “But thank you for asking. That’s incredibly sweet and yes. I would love to go to the winter dance with you, Jughead.”

It makes him blush, which he despises because he’s supposed to be cooler than this. Betty brings out this other side to him, a softer side, but instead of it making him feel weak he just feels stronger. More alive.

“Cool,” he says because he doesn’t have a better word. She doesn’t seem to mind, just tilts her head down for a kiss that he gladly reciprocates. “It’s a date.”

***

Winter comes without warning.

One day they can go outside without heavy coats or umbrellas and the next they are searching their closets for snow boots and beanies.

Luckily he’s always wearing one of those so he’s halfway there already.

“It’s so cold,” Betty says, her hands wrapped around a paper cup of hot cocoa that he picked up for her on the way to lunch. “Why is it so cold?”

Veronica snorts into her latte. “Because the hell that is Riverdale finally froze over, that’s why.”

They are all sitting in the library, the weather too cold to eat outside but none of them really wanting to brave the cafeteria with its cliques and politics. Kevin and Veronica are practically sitting on top of each other on an armchair to stay warm and Jughead doesn’t miss the look Archie throws at Ronnie even though he obviously has nothing to worry about when it comes to Kevin.

“That’s new,” Jughead murmurs to Betty, who’s sitting with one leg tucked under her on the plush couch they are sitting on. Their thighs are touching hip to knee and the contact makes his body hum with heat. He doesn’t think he’d notice if the roof blew off and it was snowing directly on them.

Betty follows his gaze to a jealous looking Archie, who’s shooting daggers at their friends. “It’s not new,” she says with a quiet laugh. “Archie just can’t make up his mind. Val or Ronnie. Ronnie or Val. You know he’s never been good at making decisions.”

“Or with women,” Jughead deadpans and everyone looks over when Betty snorts out loud.

“Sorry,” she says and Jughead has to hide his laugh behind his hand. “Inside joke.”

“So B,” Veronica untangles herself from Kevin’s lap and perches herself on the arm of the chair. “Anything exciting happening in the world of you?”

“Jughead and I are going to the winter dance together,” she says with a bright smile and he loves that she reaches over to intertwine her fingers with his. “Are you guys going?”

Archie shoots a look at Veronica, that the brunette misses, and Jughead rolls his eyes. “Yeah, Arch. Who are you taking to the dance?” Betty squeezes his hand but if it’s in warning or because she wants to laugh, he really doesn’t know.

“Oh, um. I’m not sure yet.”

Veronica looks over at him, surprise written all over her face. “You’re not? What about Val?”

Jughead tries to read her question, see if there’s any underlying question there but damn if that girl isn’t a vault. She doesn’t wear her emotions on her features and he can’t tell if she’s genuinely curious or if there’s a deeper meaning behind her question.

He hates not being able to figure people out.

“The Pussycats are playing the dance so she’ll be busy most of the night so I don’t know. I might ask someone else.”

“Anyone we know?”

Everyone in the room is watching their interaction with great interest and Jughead thinks it’s pretty comical, the way their heads all turn from one person to other like a tennis match they can’t tear their eyes away from.

The ginger blushes, which is hilarious in its own right, and Jughead thinks if Archie’s face flushes anymore you won’t be able to tell where his forehead ends and his hair begins.

“I guess you’ll have to wait and see.”

Betty nudges him and he leans over so she can whisper in his ear. “Should we somehow get them to go together?”

Jughead feigns a gasp. “Betts, you want to interfere with our friends’ love lives? Scandalous.” She taps him on the head with her pen and he laughs. “If you want me to talk to Archie, I will.”

She beams at him like he’s just said the magic words and maybe he has. He’s so stupid for this girl that if she asked him to jump off a building he’d probably say yes if she gave him a good enough reason. Hell, probably even if she didn’t give him a good reason.

Everyone pops out of their seats when the bell rings but he calls Archie over before he has a chance to rush off to class. Archie just gives him a weird look when he waits for everyone to leave before speaking.

“So are you going to ask Ronnie to the dance?”

Archie blanches. “Veronica…what? Why would you think that?”

“Give me a break, dude.” Jughead slaps his oldest friend on the shoulder as they start the walk to their next classes. “You were putting off some weird vibes when she asked you about Val. You should ask her.”

Archie is quiet until they reach the hallway where they have to split up to go to their separate classes.

“Think she’d say yes?”

Jughead shrugs. “I don’t know but it doesn’t hurt to ask.”

He gives his friend one more pat on the shoulder before heading off to calc.

***

A black limo is waiting outside of the Andrews house and he’s got a new suit to match.

Well, it’s not _new_ but it’s new to him and this one actually fits unlike the one he wore to the funeral.

“Looking good, gentleman.”

Fred walks out of the kitchen with his phone out, ready to take pictures, and Jughead and Archie groan simultaneously.

“Dad, the girls aren’t even here yet.”

Fred chuckles and points to the fireplace. “What? Two guys can’t take a photo together? Go stand over there.”

The boys roll their eyes but do as their told. Jughead is just happy that no one else is here to see this ridiculousness.

“Well aren’t you two just the pinnacle of prom perfection?”

Veronica’s voice is laced with amusement and Jughead and Archie share matching groans again. Archie is quick to recover though when he sees Veronica standing in her dress, her black hair shining as she beams up at him.

“You look beautiful, Ronnie.” He leans down to brush his lips across her cheek and Jughead can see her blush from where he’s standing.

“Thank you.” Her voice is almost a whisper and honestly, if they aren’t dating before New Year’s he’ll eat his hat.

“Where’s Betty?”

Before he can even get the words out his girlfriend rounds the corner and he swears that he stops breathing all together. Her hair is down and brushed over one shoulder, a change from the high ponytail she almost always wears and her pale lavender dress leaves her shoulders bare.

“Wow,” he murmurs and she must hear him because she blushes furiously before coming to stand in front of him.

“You look pretty wow yourself,” she says as she runs her hands down the front of his jacket.

“Yeah, Forsythe,” Veronica teases. “You clean up pretty nice.”

“Thanks,” he says without looking away from Betty. “And if you call me that again, I will end you. Just so you know.”

Veronica lets out a breathy laugh. “That would require you to take your eyes off Betty which frankly, I don’t see you doing anytime soon.”

“She’s got a point,” he says quietly and Betty blushes again. “Betty, you look incredible.”

Her hands tighten around his lapels. “Thank you. So do you. This suit…” She bites her bottom lip and he almost loses his mind.

“You like?”

She nods. “I do. I love, actually.”

His heart beats so fast it feels like it’s going to fly out of his chest when the word love tumbles from her pretty lips.

Any day now he’s going to tell her how he feels. Maybe even any minute.

He’s pretty sure that she already knows.

***

_Tap, tap, tap._

The noise wakes him up and he rubs his eyes as he looks down at his phone. They only got home from the dance an hour and a half ago and it’s nearing two in the morning. He had just nodded off to sleep when the telltale sound of the girl next door at his window woke up him.

Betty is waiting outside, hair and makeup still done from the dance but she’s wrapped in a pair of fuzzy pajama pants and long sleeve thermal shirt.

“What are you doing, silly girl?” He asks when he opens the window. “It’s late.”

“Meet me in my backyard in five minutes,” she tells him, ducking into give him a quick kiss before rushing back over to her house.

He chuckles as he slides on his jacket and beanie, lacing his boots before taking the basement’s back door out into the yard. The hinges creak on the Cooper’s back gate and he looks up at her parent’s bedroom to make sure it’s still dark before sneaking through it and into her backyard.

“Over here,” Betty calls softly and he uses his phone to light his path over to where she’s lying down on a blanket.

“What are you doing?”

She pats the blanket next to her and he grins as he drops to the ground beside her. “I didn’t want this night to end,” she says quietly, like it’s a secret, and maybe it is. Maybe it’s a secret between the two of them, something that they can share because he didn’t want the night to end either.

Dancing with her, his arms wrapped tightly around her on the dance floor. Everyone knowing once and for all that he was hers and she was his. Kissing her whenever he wanted. It was probably the best night of his life.

“The dance was fun,” she says as she puts an extra blanket over their legs.

“Mhm,” he murmurs against her hair when she rests her head against his shoulder. “You’re a much better dancer than I thought you’d be,” he jokes and she pokes him with her pinky.

“That’s my line,” she teases.

“I have many talents you don’t know about.” Betty shivers and he pulls the blanket up around her more. “Betty…”

“Mmm?” When he looks down her eyes are closed, a serene smile playing over her lips, and he wishes he could somehow bottle this moment and use it during all of the moments in his life when she’s not around. When he’s scared or lonely or angry. She’s like a good mood pill, a ray of sunshine on a rainy day. The light to his dark. He doesn’t want to lose her.

He _can’t_ lose her.

His voice is a whisper against her hair. “Betty, I love you. I think, in some ways, I always have.”

She doesn’t still like he was afraid she would, doesn’t make a disgusted noise or look away. She simply looks up at him, that beautiful smile still on her lips, and kisses him softly.

“I love you, too.”

Four words, seared into his memory. Branded onto his heart.

He closes his eyes and sighs. It’s like a weight has been lifted off of his chest that he didn’t even know was there.

They fall asleep under a December moon, stars twinkling above them as the winter wind swirls around them.

He’s not a poet but he is a writer and as his eyes drift closed he thinks he could write an entire novel about how he feels right at this moment. Safe and warm and loved.

Four words have given him a four letter word he’s been unable to find his entire life but he’s found it here in the arms of a girl that radiates everything good in the world.

Home.

**Author's Note:**

> After 1x07 I typed out a quick little text post about Jughead and Betty living next door to each other and it inspired me to make it a full-fledged fic about Jughead moving in with Fred & Archie. This is my first attempt at a fairly long Bughead fic so thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!


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